2 children died before state shuttered Greenwood daycare

Girl’s parents head to Olympia to push for stringent reviews of child deaths at daycare centers

Updated 10:50 am, Thursday, January 16, 2014

Eve Mira Uphold was 5 months old when she died in the basement hallway of a Seattle daycare center.

Her death on May 2 wasn’t the first at First Nest, a since-shuttered facility in the Greenwood neighborhood. Like a baby boy who died 12 years before, Eve’s death was attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a catch-all condition better known as SIDS.

While Eve may have suffocated – she was found face down on a loose, waterproof pad crumpled in a portable "pack and play"-style playpen – her exact cause of death remains undetermined. But, in a lawsuit filed recently against state regulators, her parents contend both the regulators and the daycare operator should have done more to protect their little girl.

“SIDS does not necessarily mean the death was unexplained or unpreventable,” said attorney Lincoln Beauregard, who is representing Amanda and Kyle Uphold alongside attorney Kenneth Selander Jr.

“They’re distraught – they lost their child,” Beauregard continued. “But they’re also very interested in making the situation better for other families.”

To that end, the Upholds are headed to Olympia on Thursday to push for legislation that would require thorough inquiries into deaths of children at daycare centers. The fatality reviews mandated by the bill – House Bill 2165 – would be accessible to the public.

Andy Hazzard, whose son died at a Greenwood neighborhood daycare, pictured addressing the Legislature on Jan. 16, 2013.

Andy Hazzard, whose son died at a Greenwood neighborhood daycare, pictured addressing the Legislature on Jan. 16, 2013.

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Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Seattle, prime sponsor of a bill that would require more stringent reviews of daycare deaths.

Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Seattle, prime sponsor of a bill that would require more stringent reviews of daycare deaths.

Photo: Washington State Legislature

2 children died before state shuttered Greenwood daycare

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Rep. Ruth Kagi, the legislation's prime sponsor, said fatality reviews in the state foster care system helped pave the way for policy changes that protect Washington children. Kagi said it is her hope that similar painstaking reviews of deaths at state-licensed daycare centers will do the same.

"I wish there was some way to reverse the terrible loss the Upholds have had, but I really think we can learn, particularly around SIDS, what our licensing policies should be," said Kagi, a Seattle Democrat and chairwoman of the committee the Upholds will address Thursday.

Attorneys for the Upholds claim the state should have closed First Nest long before Eve wound up there. The one-woman, home-based daycare was repeatedly cited in the decade after 6-month-old Graham Allen Hazzard died there but continued to operate until Eve died.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Health Services declined to respond to the allegations in detail but said the department doesn’t close centers solely because of a death.

“Unfortunately, babies do die from many natural causes and from crib death,” DSHS spokeswoman Chris Case said Tuesday. “We investigate a child's death as we do any allegation of abuse or neglect.”

Both deaths ruled as SIDS

SIDS – sometimes known as crib death – remains something of a medical mystery.

Of course, a child’s true cause of death may also be mischaracterized as SIDS, much as SIDS deaths are sometimes wrongly attributed to outside factors. Beauregard said jurors would hear from experts on the issue, should the Upholds’ lawsuit go to trial.

While state regulators found numerous problems at First Nest after Graham's death in 2001, they stopped short of stripping operator Rhonda Hopson of her license. Her continued failure to bring her daycare up to standards afterward didn’t prompt action either – she was fully licensed when Eve died.

State investigators looking into the death found Hopson swaddled the 4-month-old and put her to sleep in a portable crib left in the daycare hallway. They note the mattress was fitted with a waterproof pad, rather than a tight sheet, that was left loose and crumpled in the crib.

Eve’s face was purple and squished when Hobson found her face down and unconscious. State investigators determined Hopson had left Eve unattended for more than half an hour surrounding her death; the girl was too long dead to be resuscitated by the time paramedics arrived.

“For more than 12 years the department has tried to help support you in learning … to reduce SIDS deaths,” a Department of Early Learning supervisor said in a Sept. 24 letter revoking Hopson’s license.

“You chose to disregard the attempts of the department to reduce the risk of SIDS in your home,” the social worker continued.

‘I personally supervise all children at all times’

In the lawsuit filed earlier this month in King County Superior Court, attorneys for Eve’s parents claim the state should have acted decisively following the first death in Hopson’s care. Instead, the state allowed Hopson to continue operating a daycare out of her Northwest 88th Street home even though the center was found repeatedly to be out of compliance.

Licensed since June 1991, Hopson first had a child die in her care on April 27, 2001.

That day, Hopson put Graham Hazzard to sleep on her bed, surrounded by pillows. Hopson told investigators she’d left the child on his side and returned to find him dead.

DSHS investigators determined Graham died of SIDS, and claimed to have trained Hopson on how to prevent infant deaths. Three years later, though, a state social worker made a surprise inspection of Hopson’s daycare and found a 3-month-old sleeping in a car seat, a practice that can reduce the amount of air a baby is able to breathe.

Hopson was cited following that visit, and again in 2005 during a second surprise inspection that found she was housing children in a basement room with no emergency exit. She was again faulted in 2008 for allowing children to sleep in a basement room with no emergency exit.

In December 2012, state investigators inspecting the home found four infants – one more than she was allowed under state law. Hopson was on a different floor of the home than some of the children, and her grown son, who had not been vetted to care for children, was living in the basement.

Responding to those complaints, Hopson told DSHS she would rectify the issues outlined by investigators. She also claimed she would watch children in her care attentively.

“I personally supervise all children at all times and we remain as a group for all daily activities and naps,” Hopson told DSHS in a February letter, according to state records.

‘A clear and present danger’

The day Eve died, she was sleeping in a portable playpen set up in hallway, according to the DSHS report. Other children were still being left in rooms without proper exits, and Hopson’s adult son was still in the home.

Speaking with police, Hopson said she found the child dead minutes after putting her down for a nap. Investigators found her description to be self-serving and untruthful, and ultimately determined the girl had been left unattended for much longer.

Revoking her license, the Department of Early Learning supervisor said Hopson showed a “serious disregard” for Eve’s safety, and, in doing so, “created a clear and present danger to the child’s health, welfare and safety.”

Speaking Wednesday, Beauregard said the 2001 death should have raised more of an alarm at the state agency.

“When the first child died, there were circumstances that weren’t addressed,” said Beauregard, an attorney with Connelly Law Offices. “Her license should have been pulled long before this occurred.”

While the Upholds are seeking financial compensation for their loss, Beauregard said the couple is most interested in bringing attention to the issues surrounding their daughter’s death, chiefly, what they view as lax regulation of daycare centers.

Addressing the Legislature alongside the Upholds, Graham’s father Andy Hazzard said he and his wife were kept in the dark for years following their son’s death. Neither was interviewed by state investigators or informed when violations were discovered.

“It wasn’t until 12 years later that, when we became aware of Eve’s death, that we became aware there had been any type of incident review,” Hazzard said. “We naively assumed that had there been any information like that it would have been shared with us.”

Kagi said she is hopeful the Legislature will act on the matter this session, which kicked off Monday.

"This is a very compelling issue, and I'm going to go to bat for it."

Kagi’s district, the 32nd, includes the North Seattle neighborhood where Eve and Graham died.

The state and Hopson have yet to respond to the lawsuit, filed Jan. 9 in King County Superior Court.